Brouwerij De Glazen Toren

The new brewery De Glazen Toren officially opened on 11th November 2004, but there had been a long previous history.In 1988 Jef Van den Steen from Erpe-Mere and Dirk De Pauw from Aalst discovered they had a common passion : BEER

They met at the town hall of Erpe-Mere : Jef, master in mathematics, was an alderman there and Dirk, master in law, was the newly appointed town clerk. Together they started experimenting as hobby brewers in a kettle of 50 litres, but they soon realized that more know-how was needed in order to brew good beer. A sound theoretical knowledge was a necessity. The two enrolled for a three-year training course (1991-1994) “Brewery, Malting and Fermentation industry” at the CTL Institute in Gent.

After a long search the basis of the installation was found and bought in Galmaarden where brewery Meesters had closed its doors. Then they started to look for an industrial building in Aalst, but eventually the installation was set up in a newly built property at the Glazentorenweg in Erpe-Mere (hence the name of the brewery)In the fall of 2002 Dirk and Jef were joined by Mark De Neef, head librarian in Aalst and master in Dutch and English languages.On 1st January 2004 the three started a limited liability company. The arrival of the third partner brought more scope to the brewery. The installation was completed and with the necessary excise duty licenses in the pocket the first beer flowed from the 5hl installation in August 2004. Brewery DE GLAZEN TOREN was born.

In the meantime a winterscotch “Canaster” and a 4 grains double white beer “Jan de Lichte” had been added to the assortment.

In the course of 2006 the complete infrastructure of the brewery was renewed.New cilindro-conic yeast tanks of 22 hl and a new warm room were installed.A brandnew German brewhouse with a capacity of 25hl per brew which became operational on 15th January 2007completed the brewing expansion. Now filling kegs of 20 litres is being considered and worked on.